Will the cut of the main sail change the boom height?

[rgraham]

Attached are two pictures I took while giving Shazam her annual bath, one of the sails raised on my E-36 RH and the other is the boom height with the main raised. Right now the boom is the perfect height to knock my block off. I think these are the original Hood sails. When I get new sails is it how the sail is cut that will raise the boom above head level for safety? Keep in mind I'm new to sailing so assume I know nothing when explaining please.

Thanks,
Robert

 

[Loren Beach]

"Tacking!" "Ouch!"

Until Seth checks in with some real sailmaker lore, I seem to remember that in the early 80's racers looking for an extra "edge" on their IOR rated sail area would drop the boom down at an angle from the gooseneck. This would allow a longer leach and give them a potential couple of micro-knots of speed to weather. As you note, this puts the end of the boom down where you discover why it is called the "boom!"
That being the sound it makes when it hits you...

Off hand, I cannot remember if that so-called measurement loophole was elliminated later or it just proved too dangerous for the slight benefit it was suposed to give. For that last decade or so, all the sails I see in local club races have their booms at 90 degrees to the mast and gooseneck, around here.

Being 6'2" tall, I never had any interest in such a scheme in the first place!

So square up that boom angle and be safe!


My .02 worth,
Loren

 

[JMCronan]

Robert,

Looks like your stuck with the boom droop until you get a new main
made. There is really no way to get rid of the droop. The leach is not adjustable, unless you recut the sail which would most likely will cause some performance issues. But if the sail is the original I'd just live with it until you purchase a new main. At which time you can have the sailmaker build the sail to your specs.

Reguards,
Jack

 

[Chris Miller]

What's funny is that a bunch of the seriously hotrod new boats are doing the oposite.

 

[Randy Rutledge]

If you have a bolt rope on the luff you may have the same problem I had on my 28 year old main. The luff measurement should have been 32' 6" but measured 32". The bolt rope in the luff and foot had shrunk. I cut the stitching at the head and clue and the luff pulled up six inches and when the foot stitching was cut the foot pulled out 4" to reach the 10' measure that the specs listed. Keep in mind you are not stretching the Dacron you are only sliding it along the bolt rope to its original shape.

This means the outhaul was ineffective and the main was never up hard. This leaves a floppy pillow shape to the bottom of the main and wrinkles angling down and back throughout the sail.

The re-stretching of the luff to its original size would translate in a 6" lift of the end of the boom.

 

[Seth]

Headknocker

Randy is right in that as the luff rope shrinks, you will have a hard time getting the sail up to the top of the mast, which obviously results in the boom being lower since the sail is not all the way up-and his fix is correct.

The sail looks about 4-6" below the top-this could be either that the sail is just a tad short on the luff, or that the luff rope has shrunk..

For you, the issue appears simply that the leech is too long (for the cut length of the luff).

Another possibility is that you have too much aft rake. If you check the rake and find the mast has more than about 8" of aft rake, ease the backstay and take up on the headstay the same amount-this will pull the top of the mast forward, which in turn will pull the end of the boom up the same amount. I would check the rake anyway just to be sure-but from the pic it looks like the mast is pretty straight-it does need about 6-8" of aft rake for optimal all-around performance-too much aft rake will manifest in higher pointing and upwind speed-especially in light air, while too little rake will improve offwind performance at the expense of upwind performance..

If you have too much aft rake, you are likely seeing excessive weather helm when the breeze is up-too little and the boat will have some lee helm in the light-medium conditions.
But, it looks like the rake is pretty close, SO.........

If the sail is otherwise in decent shape you definitely CAN have the clew raised (sorry, Jack). Technically he is right in that it is not "adjustable", but a recut is easy..You can go 6-8" without major surgery on the clew patch, and this should be enough. But if you had to go more than that, all that needs to be done is a new clew patch sewn onto the clew area.

The cost should be about $100 to go 6-8", maybe $150-200 if the patch needs to be rebuilt.

What we do is remove the tack ring, and using a long batten re-draw the foot curve, and cut away the sail below the new curve (if it is just a couple of inches the new curve can begin midway down the foot and they can leave the tack alone). Then re-finish the foot rope and slam new rings in the corners and you are off to the races!

A cheap fix would be to add a flattening reef ring about 6" up-the patch looks plenty beefy for that. Leave your #1 reef line rigged through this, and when you want the boom up, just grind this baby reef in (you don't need to do anything at the tack)...Some folks leave the flattening reef in while sailing uphill, and when the sail is eased out for reaching and running (and you don't expect to gybe much), ease the flattener off...This should be a min charge and take about 20 minutes...

Hope this is clear-you DO have options-

Cheers,
S

 

[rssailor]

Watch out

It looks like thats a good highth, but yeah watch your head when you tack or jibe. My main on Moonglow is not that much higher than yours is, but sitting down I do not have to duck. Good luck with whatever you decide. Seth always gives great advice. Ryan Moonglow E 25+

 

[chasandjudy]

will the cut of the main

I had my new mainsail for my E30+ manufactured so that the boom angle was 88 degrees from the perpendicular. not just to clear my head but now I can place a can of beer on the dodger without it getting knocked off, also I saved $$ by only having one row of reef points at a height of 42" from the tack. had two full length battens and two regular "two plus two" The sail was made by :SHORELINE SAILS of Toronto Ontario during the Off season for them 6 weeks for delivery I am very happy with the new sail as I have only lost one Race in my division since receiving it. www.shorelinesails.com
the best price and a very excellent sail

Charlie Pash E 30+ 3 720 P.S we race all year!

 

[Seth]

There you go.....

Exactly-this is the terminology we would use if you either have the sail recut (raise the clew), or order a new sail-the key word being "tack angle"...a 90 degree tack angle (typical) has the foot perpendicular to the luff, so an 88 degree tack angle will have the boom slightly higher...
Anyway-I think we have beat this one to death-sails can be recut in almost any direction, clews can be raised, the foot can be shortened, sometimes even lengthened.

Good luck!
S